


Day at the lake

by DontTrustLoserCandy



Category: Amphibia (Cartoon)
Genre: Family Vacation, Fluff, Gen, Humor, pain peppers, polly is a bloodthirsty baby
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-18
Updated: 2019-07-18
Packaged: 2020-07-08 04:11:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19863289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DontTrustLoserCandy/pseuds/DontTrustLoserCandy
Summary: Hop Pop decides to give the family a much-deserved vacation.Only issue is that it's at a lake Anne and Sprig areveryfamiliar with.





	Day at the lake

**Author's Note:**

> Note: this is set sometime after Anne vs Wild, and before she got used to eating bugs enough to start appreciating Bug Cuisine lmao

It was a hot, humid day in a series of neverending hot, humid days Anne had had to live through since she'd ended in this world.

It reminded her a little of visiting her grandparents' place during the holidays, in the worst way possible.

And to add insult to injury, Hop Pop looked downright _cheerful_ today.

"Well, kids! Eat up, eat up, better start your digestion now, we have a long day ahead!" The old frog said, dumping a spoonful of dubious sludge in their bowls with mirth.

Today the sludge, that could've been described as "porridge" by a blind person without taste buds, was an obnoxious orange-grey color.

At least there weren't any bugs crawling out of it this time.

With some trepidation, Anne took a spoonful—

"Woah, ground bettles with orange spider? What's the occasion, Hop Pop?!"

—and promptly spit it out.

"I- I think I'll stick to roots and mushrooms for breakfast today," Anne said, grimacing. "Really, HP?"

Hop Pop harrumphed, shaking his head but taking a bowl of foraged food and putting it on the table.

"You need to start eating more, Anne, you're all skin and bones! How do you expect to survive the winter without some meat in you?"

"With... Lots of blankets and preserved food?" Anne answered, frowning and biting back the retort that she probably wouldn't _be_ still here by winter.

Hop Pop shook his head again and sat down.

"Anyways, kids, you've been working hard at the farm this past week, so I thought to myself "well Hop Pop, how could I reward my beloved kids for working tirelessly from sunup to sundown?" Well, with a little vacation, of course!"

"Is it the spa?" Polly asked, voice monotonous as she watched Hop Pop suspiciously.

"The spa?" Anne said, eyes widening with her grin. "I thought you said you were broke, Hop Pop!"

"It's not the spa, kids, can I-"

"Oh, oh, is it another camping trip?" Sprig grinned from ear to ear, and Anne made a face. "Since the last one was- well..."

The sentence 'full of cannibal frogs disguised as mud men who almost ate us' hung in the air awkwardly.

"Not close! No, it's not the spa and it's not a camping trip. We are going..." Hop Pop drifted off dramatically, obviously enjoying the expectant stares. "To the lake!"

"What."

"Woo-hoo!" Polly said, punching her little arms up. "I haven't been to the lake all year! Finally a pool of water deep enough to _fight something_."

"Now, now, the lake is safe this time of the year, you know that Polly. And well, Anne didn't get to see the lake yet, right? Don't think I've forgotten how badly you wanted to go there when you first settled in." Hop Pop looked at Anne with a smile, obviously expecting an overjoyed reaction.

Anne and Sprig shared a quick look better described as "oh, _frogs_ ".

"The lake, you say?" Anne blurted out, scrapping for fake enthusiasm like a dumpster diver looking for a diamond-encrusted watch. "Yeah, woo-hoo! It's just. Didn't you, uh, didn't you stop us from going there the first time around for a _good_ reason? Won't this," she gestured to her scrawny, gangly self," spook anyone who could just happen to be in or around the lake?"

"Oh, nonsense. The town has had plenty of time to get used to you now, there won't be any issues," Hop Pop waved off, turning around and walking towards his room. "Now, go get ready, kids! I'll go get my fishing kit. Been a while since I had a good ol' fishing day..."

"I'll go get my lake bucket," Polly said, grabbing onto the bucket and hopping off before Sprig or Anne could even react.

They looked at each other meaningfully.

"Pain Peppers?"

"Way ahead of you," Sprig said, taking a handful out of his waistband.

Anne gave an approving nod, then frowned.

".... You know, I never asked how shoving super spicy peppers down your pants doesn't make you break out in a rash or, I don't know, leave you in ridiculous amounts of pain."

"I'm used to it," Sprig replied cheerfully.

Anne stared at him.

"Eh, that's valid."

They high-fived and, after Hop Pop's loud "DON'T FORGET ANYTHING, WE LEAVE IN FIVE MINUTES", rushed to get ready for a maybe-life-threatening vacation.

* * *

The ride to the lake was uneventful and the ominous sign, oddly enough, was nowhere to be seen. Anne and Sprig shared a glance, carefully examining the lake's depths for any snake monsters lurking in the depths.

"I still don't understand why you insisted on Polly bringing her flail to the lake, I already said it was safe," Hop Pop grumbled, eyeing the polliwog as she twirled the ball of spikes cheerfully.

"I FEEL POWERFUL!"

The three of them looked at Polly.

"Well, uh, always good to be prepared, right? Just in case there's, dunno, giant lake snakes or something." Sprig shrugged nervously, not meeting Hop Pop's eye.

"Yeah! Or, you know, any critter that might try to ruin our day at the lake," Anne added.

Hop Pop put his hands on his waist, frowning.

"Polly's a _baby_."

"And she's ready for her first kill. Aren't you, Polly?" Anne assured.

"HECK YEAH!"

"And if there's no giant snak-- I mean, _enemies_ , she can always practice on the shrubbery," Anne finished, pointing to the their surroundings with her hand.

"Hmm." Hop Pop scratched his neck, looking from Anne to Polly to Anne and back to Polly. "Well, I guess that makes sense, sort of."

"Hear that, Polly? Batter _away_ ," Sprig said, gesturing to their surroundings much to Polly's delight.

Without a second thought, the little tadpole hollered, throwing herself into a bush.

"They grow up so fast," Anne sighed wistfully. "Well! Let's keep our eyes open while we're here. Just in case, you know."

"Yeah, yeah, juuuuuust in case," Sprig nodded fervently.

Hop Pop shook his head.

"I swear you kids keep getting weirder and weirder every day." He gave a grave sigh. "Last one into the lake is a purple slug!"

Anne and Sprig screamed as Hop Pop ran towards the lake, diving in with a jump. Eyes wide, they watched with apprehension for the telltale of the giant snake.

Instead, Hop Pop resurfaced with a contented sigh.

"Well, that feels good, yes it does. Come on, kids, get in! The water's good," the old frog said, opening his eyes. "Sprig, why are your hands down your pants?"

"No reason!" Sprig said, releasing the hot peppers and throwing up his hands. Anne gave him a quick look, then looked back at the lake.

"Yeah, sure, HP... Let's, uh, let's take a dip in the lake, eh, Sprig? I'm just... going to bring this inside with me," Anne said, waving the sharp stick in her hand. "Human tradition."

She ignored Hop Pop's muttered response.

The water was, as Hop Pop had said, pretty good. Pretty _darn_ good. It wasn't long until Sprig was doing laps around the place, Anne wading behind a bit more carefully, while Hop Pop enjoyed the shade under a lily pad and Polly migrated between zooming around in the water and stalking the nearby wildlife for something vaguely threatening and fight-able.

It was good. It was _relaxing_. And Anne, despite the lingering paranoia that came with being almost eaten (and seeing her friend _getting eaten alive_ ) by a giant snake, felt herself relaxing as the hours went by.

Before they even knew it, Anne felt her stomach rumbling in protest. Sprig, who'd been losing their underwater wrestling match after she'd locked him in a choke hold, answered in kin.

"Damn, guess it's grub time," Anne blinked, letting go of her friend and rubbing her stomach. "Hop Pop, where'd you leave the food basket?"

"Next to the bushes, wrapped in towels. Otherwise those pesky critters will eat the basket _whole_!" Hop Pop shook his fist at the few bugs hovering around the bundle of towels, who flew away at his last shout.

"Cool," Anne said. "Hey Sprig! Race you to the shore!"

The two friends laughed as they swam to the shore, splashing each other and running towards the towels.

Anne didn't bother to dry herself up. It was warm and humid, and she was planning on going back into the water as soon as her hunger had been appeased. Instead she just took one towel to sit on, dried her hands, and opened the basket to get something to eat.

"...Uh, Hop Pop?" Anne asked, squinting at the basket and taking one of the jars out with a dubious expression. "The _heck_ is this?"

"Oooohhhhh cockroach marmalade! My favorite!" Sprig said, reaching towards the jar with grabby hands. Anne threw it at him, grimacing in disgust.

"Something a bit less... filled with bugs, in here?" Anne looked at the contents of the basket with newfound distrust.

"The red jar is mushroom pâté, and this green one—" Sprig plunged his hand into the basket full of jars, expertly taking one out,"—is berry jam!"

"Oooohhhh, me like that," Anne smiled, taking the jars and inspecting them for any, ah, bits of bugs. If there was something Anne had learned during her stay with the Plantars, it was that they didn't care for stray bugs in their food. Added flavor, they said. "Still, how the heck are we supposed to eat this? Straight out of the jar?"

"Oh, no, no! We spread them on leaves!" Sprig said, hopping up with a smile. "It's a Plantar family tradition! Leaf burritos! We can season it with whatever we find, too."

"Hmm, like roots and stuff?" Anne asked, rubbing her chin. She looked at the jars thoughtfully, and smiled. "You know what, I think I'm gonna like this family tradition."

After all, foraging for some leaves and mushrooms was _way_ better than having to eat beetle scones or something equally questionable.

Sprig beamed, and off they went.

* * *

In the end, Polly _did_ get to fight off some dumb young predator that had thought the little girl would be easy pickings. Anne and Sprig and Hop Pop had run to help fight the monster off as soon as they'd heard it screech and Polly's ensuing laughter, but more than protecting Polly from it it had felt like they were protecting _it_ from Polly. The poor idiot had ran off with a wounded screech, and Hop Pop had urged them to pack up _now_ before the thing came back with the rest of its family.

Apparently, that species hunted in packs.

(And indeed, as they'd fled the scene, they'd heard the telltale screech of what sounded like forty _very_ angry adults out for blood. Hop Pop had hastily rummaged on Bessie's compartment and fed her some kind of plant and some berries Anne was very familiar with.

After that and the telltale command, Bessie had gone _very_ fast.)

Once they were near home, Bessie finally slowed down, and Anne slowly released Sprig and Polly from the death grip she'd kept on them as they tried to hold onto Bessie for dear life.

_Frog's sake_ , Anne didn't know the snail could _go_ that fast.

"That... wasn't on Bessie's book," Anne wheezed out, melting against the seat.

"A little trade secret. Wouldn't want it to fall in the wrong hands if someone ever got their hands on Bessie's book, you know?" Hop Pop said calmly, climbing back up from where he'd fallen on Bessie's shell after literally flying by the reins for half of the ride.

Anne thought on what _she_ would've done with those herbs that time Sprig and she took Bessie for a joyride, and swallowed heavily. Her throat felt like sandpaper after all the screaming.

"Right."

"Well, that was fun," Polly said, slightly less shaken than the rest of the family, still riding on the high of beating the ever-loving heck out of something thrice your size.

"Fun. Yes. Fun," Sprig croaked.

"...What do you say we get home, have some grub and never talk about this again?" Hop Pop said, looking at them and, by association, at the path Bessie had practically demolished in her stead.

"Agreed," Anne and Sprig said in tandem.

Polly sighed with the heaviness of someone judging her whole family for not knowing the meaning of _fun_.

"... Okay, _suuure_."

(When Mayor Toadstool later brought up a new tax, citing the need to repair the road after 'some kind of freakish natural disaster' had left it in shambles, the Plantars stayed Very Quiet as the rest of the village muttered and complained.

Very, Very Quiet.)


End file.
